Extensively Renovated Techbuilt

Designed by pioneering architect, Carl Koch, and his Techbuilt Company, 100 Pleasant Street is a spacious and historic Mid-Century Modern house, extensively renovated and expanded by the current owners in 2009.

Originally built in 1964 for Harvard botanists Rolla and Alice Tryon, the one-acre property is surrounded by specimen plantings, including the ferns that were the Tryons’ area of expertise, as well as various types of hosta, and even a rare strain of dawn redwood tree, planted from seeds discovered in amber. Nestled down from the road in a wooded setting, yet only seven minutes’s drive to Alewife MBTA Station, the property offers a quick commute home to escape the stress of workaday life. Unwind in the living room with walls of glass overlooking the flora and fauna; vaulted ceilings; a white brick fireplace; bluestone floors; and restored butternut ceilings. The home features a blend of natural materials and a symbiosis of indoors and out that will please even the most discerning aficionados of Modernism.

The house was effectively rebuilt in 2009, with plans from Cambridge-based architect Peter Wright, with approximately 900 square feet added to the living area. The interior spaces were taken down to the studs and reimagined, resulting in a bedroom wing that contains a peaceful master suite; two more generously sized bedrooms; a laundry room; and the two full baths.  The new addition forms the heart of the home, with an addition encompassing an expansive chef’s kitchen, open to the dining space, and a guest/fourth bedroom that serves as flexible space. This section of the house continues through a mudroom area to the attached deep garage. Off the main entrance is an office, which like the bedrooms, features a window seat on which to rest and enjoy the Zen-inspiring views. now that spring is here, you can enjoy the patio, which flows from the kitchen. About a half mile to famous Wilson Farm.

Showings start Wednesday, May 16. Open houses Friday, May 18 from 4:00-6:00 PM and Sunday, time TBD. Offers Tuesday, 5/22 at 3:00. Please park on Dover Lane or further down Pleasant Street, where there is street parking near the bridge.

Features and Details

• Wooded .92 acre double lot
• Built-in speakers in kitchen, dining room, office, and den
• High efficiency mini-split air conditioning/heat pump in kitchen wing (and living room is plumbed for possible second unit)
• Mono-arch halogen art lighting in master bedroom, foyer, office, and dining room
• Lutron switches and dimmers throughout house
• 200 amp electric
• Three zones of forced-hot-water heating

Kitchen

• Solid maple cabinets with under-cabinet lighting
• Caesarstone quartz counters
• FSC Lapacho (Brazilian Walnut) hardwood floors in the kitchen and dining rooms
• Thermador wall oven and microwave
• Thermador Professional dishwasher
• Thermador Masterpiece 36″ 5 burner cooktop
• Professional grade 36″ Zephyr ventilation hood
• GE Monogram built-in refrigerator

Master

• Walk-in closet with custom ELFA shelving system
• En suite bath with marble finishes

Age of Systems

• Roof: nine years on newer sections; approximately 17 years elsewhere
• Boiler: more than 15 years
• Hot water heater:  new in 2012; large tank with dual anode rods for extended life
• AC/heat pump in dining area: nine years

Utility costs (May 2017 through April 2018)

• Natural gas: $1,860
• Electric: $2,410

Additional

• Washer/dryer: excluded but negotiable
• Shelving system in living room negotiable
• Driveway is older and likely will need repair soon
• There is a town storm drain easement along boundary with 102 Pleasant

About Carl Koch

There is an understandable reluctance on the part of everyman to
build his counsel of nuts, bolts, and chromium. The industrial
revolution will help us realize our dreams if we can handle it, but we
haven’t handled it too well so far. Although it is pathetic to think
we can escape the pressure of competitive business, the battle of
home-office transportation, and a compulsion to drive ourselves too
far, too fast, too much, by escaping into fantasy in the shape of an
eighteenth-century farmhouse, it is understandable that we try.

— Carl Koch, preface to At Home With Tomorrow, 1958.

Read all about Carl Koch at our page about him, here.